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To: GretchenEE
Gretchen, I truly did not mean to hurt your feelings or to make fun of you. And I am relieved by your post. But I do still disagree with you about women being responsible in any way for men having trouble praying in church because they are showing too much skin. when that happens, the men ought to pray for them or close their eyes. To sort of even start telling women to cover up, to be responsible for men's lust seems so close to a slippery slope to me. I do know some women dress like tarts and are inappropriate but I am sure that with time and example they ought to come round. I for one would be incensed by a minister who made the announcements you describe. But this is just a difference of opinion. And I apologise for any mocking of you.
923 posted on 04/12/2004 6:21:24 PM PDT by cajungirl (<i>swing low, sweet limousine, comin' fer to Kerry me hoooommmee</i>)
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To: cajungirl
cajungirl, your post at 923 is very kind, gracious, and most welcome. I thank you sincerely for it.

I for one would be incensed by a minister who made the announcements you describe.

Please keep in mind that it was numerous men in the congregation who asked the pastor to make the request of the ladies; this was not the rule of a heavy-handed pastor. As a woman, I felt no offense to the request and indeed, felt badly for the guys who were driven on the expedient of needing to ask. I imagine they felt a lot of relief just hearing his request and that it validated their need to be as free of distraction in the house of the Lord as possible (there are few places where that freedom can be found these days). I never heard any women complain about it, but I can see how someone who came in new to the church might wonder, especially those whose manner of dressing had prompted the request.

If I have a nice car and a neighbor lusts after it, am I going to sell the car? No. But this area of how we present our own selves has a difference to it. We can't hardly throw away our bodies if someone finds them attractive. ;-) The fine line is discerned in having a clear conscience that is governed by His Word and His Spirit that we are doing what we can to please Him and treat our "brothers" with honor. That includes, as in the case of my church, the congregation being responsive to instruction or correction when it is needing to be given.

Reading this thread has been a real eye-opener for me, as I thought many more women were aware of the effects of the female body on a man when he sees it revealed. I know as a young woman, before I got married, I did not realize the extent of how visually, immediately ignited men are by sight. But God made them that way because His heart is in perpetuating the race and He designed the two sexes to find fulfillment in each other; if women weren't fantastically, irresistibly attractive to men, the men would be out working and skiing, anything but settling down.

I found it interesting that none of the guys on this thread have objected to what I've been writing as untrue, and some have agreed with me in specifics. This whole issue has been swept under the carpet for so long that our society groans when the issue is examined. A lack of appropriate, profound sexual and emotional intimacy in marriages, an inability to relate to each other in meaningful ways, etc., ad nauseum, feeds and perpetuates the cycles, the divorces, the men (including husbands) who are addicted to porn, etc. God's heart is to turn the tide.

Bless you.

1,050 posted on 04/12/2004 8:19:36 PM PDT by GretchenEE (Want to see more US soldiers stay alive? Drench them in prayer!)
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